movie review
Hunger Games - Catching Fire
November 26, 2013

The first Hunger Games (2012) movie was good. The second Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire, is better. I give it a three finger salute.

This year's movie has less violence and more characterization. It's the Empire Strikes Back of characterization. Catching Fire is a dramatically rich ride.

The motto of the Hunger Games is “may the odds ever be in your favor.” In Catching Fire, the odds have tilted from favoring the technology-driven, totalitarian Capitol of Panem to favor Katniss Everdeen and the people of the twelve districts. She finds alliances in all the right places.

As a middle-of-the-trilogy film, Catching Fire ends more than it finishes. I had a problem with Katniss being sedated in the penultimate scene. Why is she sedated? Because she is angry?!? If she is as important to the cause as we are led to believe, she isn't merely statuary to lug around from event to event. She shouldn't be sedated.

My best understanding is that she represents the audience, which needs to be put on hold until the next film of the series, Hunger Games - Mockingjay.

Hunger Games - Catching Fire had the fourth highest opening weekend of any movie (after Avengers, Iron Man 3, and the final Harry Potter movie).

The production people of Hunger Games - Catching Fire lost the Unsteady Cameras of the first movie in favor of a better viewing experience.  “OK, who's the jerk who hid all the unsteady cameras?!?”

In some international locations, Catching Fire is available in 4DX -- an enhanced cinematic experience featuring motion-enhanced seating, wind, water sprays, strobe lightning, and scent-based special effects.

Hey, it's the return of Smell-o-vision!

---

Music Association: The Doors - Light My Fire
Now I know what mandrills smell like... Thanks.




















The Hopes and Dreams of the Country
November 22, 2013

I cringe whenever people make generalizations about the past. “The Sixties were a time of...” No, they weren't. For some people, maybe, for most people, no.

People are wonderfully complex and simple, diverse and basic.

That's about as generalized as I get.

Fifty years ago, President Kennedy did not hold the hopes and dreams of the country. There are always people who cannot even name who is currently president. It just isn't important in their lives. And that's my perspective on history.  It's about ordinary people.

For ordinary people, it doesn't matter when a thing was invented so much as when it was available. When were people drinking pop? When were people driving cars? When were people able to go in groups to the moon?

In 1963, President Kennedy was well liked, generally.  Stepping imaginarily back in time to the Oval Office and looking over his shoulder, I would grade his work C, B, F, B, F...

For his efforts in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy would get a C or a C-. He brokered a deal but had a part in bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war in the first place. For his efforts in Civil Rights, he would receive a B, for arriving late, turning in incomplete work, and being a bit too fearful of opinion polls. For his role in the Vietnam War, he would get an F. For instigating the race to the moon, Kennedy would get a B because it still hasn't benefited most people.  He didn't have a farm policy or a native American policy and would get an F.

On this anniversary of his death, we don't often hear about Kennedy's report card.

We hear about his assassination. And with the assassination, there are the conspiracy theories. But not the blame.

The secret service should be blamed for not keeping the President safe, keeping the roof on the limousine. The Dallas Morning News and Dallas Times Herald should be blamed for reporting the motorcade route.

But how could the secret service argue with the wishes of the President? How could the Dallas newspapers argue with the mobs of people who wanted to know how to see the President?

The crowds of people, cheering for the President, spilled over the sidewalks and slowed the motorcade.

Essentially I'm saying, you could blame ordinary people for Kennedy's death, you know, the people that actually hold the hopes and dreams of the country.

---

Music Association: Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil  “I shouted out, 'Who killed the Kennedys?' When after all, it was you and me.”
Quotation Association:












The Bright Side of Life
November 21, 2013

It's a good day today. Last night, Jon Stewart ditched his shallow view of pizza and dove into the deep end (with a push from Marc Malnati).  Today, Monty Python has officially reunited after thirty years of not reuniting.  Eric Idle had previously joked that it would only happen “if Chapman came back from the dead, so we’re negotiating with his agent.”

Yes, well, apparently the negotiations are at long last complete.

So despite the dreary weather, things are looking reasonably bright, which I say, knowing full well what tomorrow will bring.

---

Music Association: Monty Python - The Spam Song





Eleven Score and Seventeen Years Ago
November 19, 2013









Happy Sequential Day
November 12, 2013










Golden Pumpkin
November 7, 2013

It's time, once again, to dole out the golden gourd  for the best Halloween costume, as tabulated by our accountants from the accounting firm of Weekly Accountants.

Weekly Accountants stand by their motto, "When you want it fast, make a spreadsheet."

It's always good to see costumed creativity, and this year Heidi Klum took an old look and made it new.

Her 96 year old makeup and costume almost got her a Golden Pumpkin. 



Almost.

But her grandmother look just wasn't great. It wasn't a great grandmother. Auf wiedersehen, Heidi.

The Transformer car costume is good. It's gotta-have-current-license-plates good.



This one could get pulled over by the police.

The Golden Pumpkin started rolling toward this costume on its own.

But then there's the LED costume on the 22 month toddler.



This is the winner of the 2013 Golden Pumpkin Award for best costume.  Congratulations on the award and for your 19 million hits on YouTube and 1810 Reddit comments.

---

Music Associations: Katy Perry - Dressing Up & Madonna - Dress You Up








LOVEINT
November 1, 2013

I am a minimalist. I am very good at letting go.  I'm not thinking about today. I'm thinking about tomorrow and tomorrow's tomorrow.

Over at the NSA, the analysts are more fixated.

The term for their personal, unauthorized stalking is LOVEINT. 

They spy on girlfriends, boyfriends, exes, celebrities... It's willful misconduct.

The number of self-reported (self-confessed) cases plus the number of overseas-related spying on partners and spouses adds up to 2,776 times in 2011. The total number of domestic occurrences of LOVEINT is unknown.

The funniest part of the Wall Street Journal and Guardian articles on LOVEINT is that the NSA still uses polygraph tests. Come on people, this is the 21st century.  Polygraph tests are not scientifically credible, valid, or unbiased. They are pseudoscience. "I'm just going to ask a few questions while I get this set up." Heh, you tripped on your magic lasso.

The NSA is too attached to its tech.  Al Qaeda doesn't use it. Bin Laden wasn't caught with tech.

I think I know some people at the NSA. But I think they think they know me better.

---

Music Association: The Who - See Me, Feel Me

---